Pair Want `Stalker` Restricted

A couple who complained to police that a man had been stalking them for two years ended up confronting the man -- a move that landed them in the Palm Beach County Jail.

Jerry and Luz Strow spent several hours in jail until they could each post $3,000 bail for the charge of aggravated battery. The charges against them were dropped last week, but they say their problems are not over.

``They are extremely relieved that criminal charges are dropped,`` said Jack Fleischman, the attorney for the Strows, who live west of West Palm Beach. ``On the other hand, they are still extremely concerned for their safety because the actions have been going on for so long.``

Today, the Strows are hoping that Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp will approve a restraining order to keep the man away from the Strows at home and at work.

``It`s thrown a complete curveball to their lives,`` Fleischman said. ``They`ve certainly had to watch out for themselves more than other people.``

The Strows said the suspect, Russell Lee Merchant, met Luz Strow, 39, in 1991 when she was working at a coin laundry and Merchant, 52, was a customer.

Merchant asked Luz Strow for a date and she declined, saying she was happily married with a teen-age daughter. The Strows told Palm Beach County Sheriff`s deputies that problems started soon after.

Some of the problems, according to Sheriff`s reports:

-- On March 12, 1992, Luz Strow called deputies and said that Merchant was pounding on her front door and broke a window in her home. Deputies met with Merchant and warned him to leave the Strows alone. Merchant told deputies that the Strows had been harassing him.

-- On March 21, 1992, Jerry Strow, 42, told deputies that Merchant had called his home several times. Sometimes he identified himself, other times he did not. The deputy said to contact Southern Bell to put a trace on calls made to their home and talk with prosecutors. It was unclear whether the Strows made arrangements with the telephone company.

About 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 21, reports show, Luz Strow parked her car at a shopping center west of West Palm Beach when she heard glass smashing. Strow said that Merchant broke the windshield and began shouting obscenities at her.

At 7:20 p.m., the Strows told deputies that they saw Merchant drive by their home and smash a glass bottle in their driveway. They called Sheriff`s detectives to complain, but Merchant continued driving by their house.

At 11 p.m., Luz Strow grabbed a kitchen knife and Jerry Strow grabbed a club, the Strows told deputies. They got into their car and began following Merchant, who pulled into a convenience store parking lot.

``(The Strows) said they got out of the car and told (Merchant), `I`m going to break your windshield like you broke mine,``` according to the arrest report.

Luz Strow used the handle of her knife to smash Merchant`s windshield, while her husband hit Merchant three times to keep him inside his car, deputies said.

The deputies talked with the Strows, who said there was a scuffle, and also detailed the incidents they previously had reported to deputies. The Strows were arrested that night.

Merchant`s phone has been disconnected, and he did not return a message left with a neighbor.

Court records show that in 1985, Merchant was convicted on two counts of lewd assault of a teen-age girl in West Palm Beach. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison and was released early in 1987.

State records also show that the Strows have no criminal records.

Sheriff`s officials said on Thursday that the day before the struggle with Merchant, the Strows were told that detectives were trying to gather enough evidence to file a felony stalking charge.

``We were actively working it,`` Sheriff`s spokesman Bob Ferrell said. ``The problem is proving all the things done were the same guy. They couldn`t make a positive identification in all of the reports.``

Fleischman said the Strows were acting in self-defense after being harassed for so long.

``If you think about it, there`s not really much that can be done unless you take the step to defend yourself,`` Fleischman said. ``It comes down to whether or not to defend yourself, and they felt they had to.``